Ask candidates to solve a current business challenge

I’ve found candidate presentations to be one of the best signals when hiring Product Managers and Designers and I have enforced them at all levels at the organizations I’ve led. 

When done well, presentations can yield a very accurate picture of a candidate’s problem-solving, presentation, and facilitation skills – three of the most critical skills in product. Candidates tend to perform exceptionally well or very poorly, and the hiring team often leaves with a largely aligned perspective on the candidate.

Over time, I’ve refined a straightforward process for candidate presentations –

• Once a candidate clears the first round of interviews, I provide them with a take-home prompt and invite 3-5 panelists, typically the hiring manager and essential cross-functional partners, for a presentation and a discussion.

• I let the candidate decide on what materials to bring and explicitly make time management the candidate's responsibility.

Typically, the prompt looks something like this:

The candidate presentation is an important part of our hiring process. It gives you an opportunity to highlight your unique experiences and why you’re an excellent fit for the position. 

Brief bio (5 min): Tell us about yourself and why you are interested in [company]

Discussion Prompt (25 min): Our company is currently facing [a challenge], How might we further develop [our product] to solve this problem

Discussion (30 min): As you’re planning your presentation, leave about 30 min for Q&A at the end of the presentation.

The allotted time above is guidance, we look to you to manage time during discussion. The discussion will be attended by: [person 1, title], [person 2, title], [person 3, title]

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to [recruiter] or [hiring manager]

Over the years, I’ve also developed a few best practices that I find yield much better discussions:

• Avoid generic prompts such as “Tell us about your favorite product” or “Tell us about a product you are proud to have shipped.” Generic prompts lead to shallow discussions because the interview panel usually lacks the familiarity to drive a deep discussion. Base the questions on specific problems your current company is facing, where the panel will have deep expertise and will be able to drive a rich discussion.

• Don’t encourage timeboxed preparation: I’ve seen prompts encouraging timeboxing (ie “don’t spend more than a few hours on this”). I don’t think this is good advice to give a candidate, candidates that ignore the guidance and spend the time they need usually perform better.

• Check-in with the candidate as they are working on the case: Doing a presentation as part of the interview loop might be a new experience for the candidate, so I like to check in with them to make sure they understand what we are looking for. 

• Minimize passive participants: I ask the candidate for permission to record the discussion; this allows you to relegate quiet participants to watch the interaction offline. This is particularly critical in virtual discussions, where you can spare the candidate from talking to a Zoom wall.

The skills tested in candidate presentations are highly relevant for on-the-job performance of a PM: Do they prepare well, think well on their feet, and facilitate a productive discussion? It's one of the best assessment instruments available—don’t skip it!